Learning by Doing
by CannibaLilly
Summary: Due to previous happenings the Doctor and Donna suddenly face each other as a couple – something that turns out to be a challenge for both of them.


_Author:__ CannibaLilly_

_Beta-Reader:__**VAPX007 **__(you rescued me, thanks a bunch! "_S'pose so. Right'o"? ;D)

_Rating:__ R_

_Fandom:__ Doctor Who_

_Couple:__ 10/Donna_

_Disclaimer:__ Still not mine, maybe I could get them for my birthday?_

_Warnings:__ Not-native English author_

_Summary:__ Due to previous happenings the Doctor and Donna suddenly face each other as a couple – something that turns out to be a challenge for both of them._

_A/N:__ Oh, this took me really long – my apologies! I just wanted to give my best with this sequel, thus I always discussed my (language) mistakes with my new beta & took my sweet time writing the dialogues. Please enjoy _

_**Part 1/3?**_

"Doctor!" Donna exclaimed breathlessly.

"Nearly there!" the Doctor called over his shoulder and judging from the expression on his face they were getting really close.

Donna tried to ignore the stabbing pain in her chest. They were running over the ample meadow she had marvelled at just an hour ago. The whole planet looked like someone had had a lot of spare parts of other sceneries and accidentally overturned them here.

The meadow they were running over was littered with enormous rocks. The way they were randomly distributed and mostly moss-covered had given Donna the feeling of being an ant in a wonderful garden.

"We need a plan!" She demanded. She could impossibly maintain this speed in these shoes. She hadn't expected a run for her life. The Doctor had promised her a stunning planet (ok, it was a great sight, but this wouldn't help her as soon as these _things_ had caught up with them). They had walked over the meadow and into a deep forest that bordered right onto it, its ground covered with sand. Actual sand! In a forest! Donna had never seen something like that and enjoyed it highly.

Then they had found a neat restaurant and everything started to go wrong.

"Run faster", the Doctor proposed and reached his hand out for hers.

With an annoyed growl Donna grabbed it and allowed him to pull her along. Together they had just rushed around a group of rocks when the sound of a shot cut through the dry air.

"They have guns?!" Donna shrieked.

"Obviously, yes – there she is!" the Doctor rejoiced and pointed at the TARDIS which just leaped into view. Scraping up her last stamina Donna followed the Doctor to the blue box and vanished inside. Together they threw themselves against the door and burst out laughing.

"Next time you invite me for 'dinner', remind me to hurt you – badly." Donna managed to say breathily.

"It was dinner", the Doctor tried to justify that instead of a meal Donna had have to run for her life.

"Yes, with us as the main course", she replied and exhaustedly slid down to the floor.

"You're alright?" the Doctor wondered worried.

"One heart, no respi-… respi- no bypass-thingy", Donna explained and tried to fill her lungs with oxygen.

He smiled, already breathing calmly again and offered her his hand.

"Better get us away from here", Donna turned his help down. At least they had guns and who knew if the TARDIS was as bulletproof as he claimed her to be.

While sitting on the floor, Donna eyed her Spaceman. He was working on the levers and buttons of the control panel and Donna tried to make sense of his strange behaviour. It wasn't the part that an invitation for dinner turned out to be a visit to a cannibalistic-planet; it was the fact that this had been his 8th invitation this month. At first Donna had simply believed he'd run out of euphemisms for trips to deathtraps, but lately while dinner started outdoing danger, she doubted her theory.

"So, next stop?" the Doctor glanced at Donna with this sparkling eyes.

"We barely escaped being eaten", Donna reminded him and slowly got herself up again.

"Something peaceful then? Aye, aye. The beaches of Celsar are wonderful at this time of the year, well even if it was the wrong time, we can change it, can we not?" the Doctor smiled in anticipation.

"This sounds lovely Doctor, but…"

"Oh, it is! White sand, deeply purple water and all the carnivorous plants are hibernating… I suppose, one can never be too sure with these…"

"I'd rather… take a break", Donna told him carefully. It wasn't easy to refuse him when he was enthusing about new places. Usually the ginger wouldn't have tried to anyway, but the Doctor seemed to have increased his speed during the past weeks even more.

Between _"dinner here"_ and _"lunch there" _he barely ever stopped taking her around the galaxy – this was wonderful, but for a human no possible condition to maintain over years; at least she was no skinny not-aging alien and needed her breaks now and then.

"Oh, I see, break-time then", the Doctor ran his hand through his hair and Donna knew he was disappointed.

"Just a short one!" she tried to cheer him up.

"Just one evening. Relaxing, drinking tea, sitting on the sofa, enjoying ourselves without running for our life, ok?"

"Sure, I wanted to get some reading done, so it's fine… ", he said with these puppy eyes Donna hated to repulse. Gratefully she kissed him.

"And maybe we find something fun for you to do afterwards."

"You're not talking about the Celsar beaches, are you?" he wondered while Donna walked out of the control room, making sure to sway her hips slightly more than usual.

"Nope", she replied.

"Oh", was the only thing the Doctor could think of as an answer and then Donna was gone.

"Ooooh", he stressed as the awareness fully seeped into his brain. Now he was screwed. He rushed through the corridors, like a kid who'd just figured out that they really had to do their homework. The Doctor was heading for the library where he'd left the book he had started some weeks ago.

He had a reason for keeping Donna busy ever since they began this difficult matter. His last relationship had been several centuries ago and it had been a typical Gallifreyan relationship. The humans' all different imagination of how such things had to be like had never been his cup of tea. Of course the Doctor had met several _affiliated_ humans, but he'd never bothered to study them, not enough to take part in such a couple himself.

He didn't even like the word _"couple"_, this sounded like two giddy teenagers! No suitable word for a union a dignified Time Lord would want to join and he could neither imagine Donna in such an awkward bond.

With an exhausted sigh he sat down on the sofa in the library and flipped the heavy book open. "_Gregariousness in ancient cultures of humankind - 1500-4500"_, it was called. So far so good. He had focused on the chapters dealing with the years 2000-2500, Donna's time period, and already worked through the _"Date"_, paragraph.

_Dates: In this century humans follow a defined pattern while "dating". Though gender equality has settled itself in the community, the male is often expected to make the first move and ask the female out (special case is the same-sex relationship, see page 4.896.011). Usual actions for such evenings are a shared meal, a visit to a theatre, etc._

The Doctor had done his best to try this out during the past month. Donna seemed a little uncomfortable with their visit at the colosseum though, so he had decided to stick to taking her out to dinner. That was all well and good, also the chapters about spending a lot of time together and not getting seriously involved with other possible partners, were nothing new to him.

The thing that troubled him and the reason why he had decided to keep Donna busy until he found the time (or maybe courage, how he reluctantly admitted) to study it, was the _"Copulating"_ chapter.

At first it had sounded pretty great. The Doctor found it particularly interesting to read about all the release of chemicals in body and brain that came along with this process. Also it sounded a lot like something his ancestors would have frowned upon, all this touching and exchange of fluids; the fact that they would have disliked, possibly even forbidden, it, was just another fact that made this action so interesting.

Actually he was about to ask Donna when they could try this out when he stumbled across the short insertion _"about the dos and don'ts"._ These few pages dampened his enthusiasm.

Obviously every particular human had his or her own idea of sex. Something that was perfect for one person was pervert for the other… But the book also claimed that carefully elaborated concepts were only desired in especially complex cases. Not that the Doctor thought too highly of plans, but when it came to such an essential part of the relationship (what humans made it, judging from every book, film or show the Doctor had ever seen) he'd rather had a rough schedule of what he should do.

Crestfallen the Time Lord closed the book again. All this boiled down to the fact that he had have to guess what Donna would be ok with and what would make her run away from him… He hated humans for making something that sounded thrilling at first into such a complex process. Maybe he was better off getting both of them an injection with the chemicals the book listed.

He was half done with mentally checking if he'd everything he would need for such an injection in the medical bay, when the TARDIS made an annoyed buzz; _"coward"_ was obviously her way to sum his thoughts up.

"Oi! I never did this before; who knows what'll happen if I mess it up?" He bit back at his mocking ship.  
_"Ask Donna"_ was the TARDIS's answer.  
The Doctor opened his mouth to reply but then closed it again. She was right, in a way. This was new to him, but Donna certainly had done it a couple of times before – if he would ask her she could help him with this.

"But I can't just ask her", he explained and earned another annoyed noise.

"This is not about me and my teacher role!" he snapped. Not that he didn't enjoy every time he could show Donna something new… ok, maybe this was about his teacher role. He sighed and put the book back into the shelf.

"Already done with reading?" Donna's curious voice close to his ear made the Doctor jump up and spin around to her. Had she seen what kind of book he'd read? Judging from the satisfied look on her face for taking him by surprise, Donna had not.

"Yeah, just finished … the book" the Doctor explained, gesturing vaguely at the whole bookshelf, hoping Donna wouldn't want to know what it was about.

"Oh, too bad", she sighed and added with a smile "I always love to watch you read."

Surprised the Doctor raised his eyebrows "do I look this interesting while reading?" he wondered.

"Very much, yes", Donna nodded impish "with this needless glasses and your thoughtful look I could watch you forever – better than a movie, honestly."

With a faked hurt voice the Doctor replied "they are _not_ needless."

"Right, they make your look smarter," Donna mocked him.

"They just help me to concentrate," the Doctor corrected. Pretending he hadn't heard Donna's remark and to prove his claim he fetched the glasses out of his pocket and put them on.

"Ah, I'm concentrating better already" he declared in satisfaction. This earned him a half-annoyed, half-amused shaking of the head from the ginger.

"You don't like the glasses?" he asked sheepishly. He had to start his research about Donna's _"dos and don'ts"_ somewhere, so why not begin with the glasses?

"Oh, I do", Donna calmed him and grinned "it makes you look like a teacher." She kissed him, carefully at first but then more and more passionate.

While Donna's tongue started exploring its new favourite place, she found that the Doctor felt somewhat far away, mentally spoken. Usually his hands took a little eternity to find a place he dared to use to pull Donna closer, now they were just listlessly lying on her arms.

Then the Doctor suddenly pulled away and asked nervously "is that good or bad?"

"What?" Donna asked, seriously confused.

„You said they make me look like a teacher… is that good or bad?"

"...Good", Donna finally answered, still not sure where this should lead to.

"Good, perfect", a satisfied smile appeared on the Doctor's face and he leaned forward to continue their kiss.

Actually Donna would have asked why on earth (or far away from it) this did matter, but the just achieved praise seemed to spur the Doctor on and Donna got carried away by the enthusiasm he was using for the kiss.

While the Doctor wriggled his tongue around hers, Donna figured that even without words their mouths seemed to get along greatly.

For the second time this day, she had to take a seat to catch her breath. The Doctor sat down next to her on the couch and Donna saw how calmly his breath was. She decided she really could have used such a bypass-system.

"Seems like I'm slightly outa practise", Donna smiled and tried to recall if she'd ever been kissed like that.

"Yes, sounds familiar", the Doctor replied with a sheepish smile and suddenly Donna realized what all this meant to him.

"Oh Doctor, you..." she spluttered, not sure how blunt she could ask. If Donna felt after some months (or was it a year now?) this clumsy with everything, then how did the Doctor feel? Donna knew he'd had grandchildren, but how long ago was that?

"Sorry", the Doctor mumbled hesitantly and Donna couldn't help but hug him.

"Dumbo! What are you sorry for?" she asked in her most gentle voice.

"Because it makes things a bit odd", he explain and rested his head on Donna's shoulder, apparently drained by an invisible weight.

"Nonsense" the ginger objected while inwardly wondering if maybe he was a little bit right.

"Anyway, it feels right", Donna answered the unspoken doubt and stroked her hand over his neck. Right now they were here, the future could be what it wanted to be, Donna wouldn't allow anyone to take _this _moment away from her.

Finally the Doctor nodded and pressed a tender kiss on Donna's neck, then her cheek and kept working his way up to her mouth.

Oh, he _had_ a skilled tongue. Donna moaned pleased and tightened her hold on his neck, trying to pull him deeper into the kiss. To her very disappointment the opposite happened and the Doctor fully pulled away from her, he seemed shocked.

"Donna, sorry! I didn't mean to...! I'll watch out now", he stuttered and guilt lay in his voice.

"What happened?" Donna wondered and tried to ignore how clearly her disappointment and craving for more resonated in her voice.

"I didn't want to hurt you." The Doctor still seemed sure he'd done something wrong.

"But you didn't," Donna explained in confusion.

Now the Doctor seemed puzzled too.

"But you sounded... You made this noise you only make when you sit down after running around for hours. … That was the noise you make when you're exhausted!"

Donna felt her cheeks burning red and hit her hand on his arm.

"No it was not!" she was about to hit him again, but lowered her hand instead and sighed. She couldn't blame him for not knowing this.

"It was not?" the Doctor asked and Donna shook her head.

"Pretty much the opposite", she mumbled embarrassed.

"Oh, the book said something about noises!" the Doctor suddenly exclaimed and seemed content.

"What book?" Donna raised an eyebrow threatening slowly.

"Uhm", was everything the Doctor could reply and earned another slap on the arm from Donna.

"You looked up how to do this?" she gaped at him and he nodded sheepishly.

"I had to! I needed to make sure how different this works for humans", the Doctor tried to justify himself and while Donna dropped back against the sofa she sighed again.

"And it is different?" she asked and the Doctor gave her his best I'm-sorry-look.

"Pretty much, yes." And because he must have read Donna's facial expression he added "but I'm a quick learner! Leave the differences to me."

A smile curled her lips and she reached her hand out to caress his cheek.

"Thanks spaceman", she all but crooned and push a gentle kiss on his lips. He really seemed to have taken much effort and Donna wasn't sure when she'd last had someone, who had agonised to make her feel comfortable – successful or not.

The Doctor felt still a little confused. If these noises didn't mean Donna disliked what he was doing, how should he know then? Eager to learn the difference he slid his tongue back into Donna's mouth and tried to repeat his moves from before.

There it was again. Donna made a noise like a suppressed growl and shuddered. This was the noise she made while suffering... or wasn't it? Now that he'd heard it a second time the Doctor wasn't sure anymore. Carefully he stroked his tongue over the roof of Donna's mouth.

She moaned deeper now and just when the Doctor was sure he'd found out what distinguished this new discovered noise from others, Donna pulled away.

"You're doing this on purpose!" she accused him, but this time she sounded less annoyed but more amused.

"I've just been wondering... what it takes to make this happen", he replied truthfully and Donna smiled challenged.

"Oh, I will show you why it happens." She snatched the glasses from his nose and leaned forward to kiss him, breaking through the last space between them and wrapped her arms around his neck. For a moment she had completely paralyzed him, body and mind similarly.

Finally his arms moved again and rested on Donna's back, at first. Then resting turned into a tight grab and finally into a claiming embrace. It was wicked, but the more he got from Donna - the more he felt her and touched her and tasted her - the more he wanted of her.

A tension built up within him and his hand rose up into her soft curls, this wonderful red cascade of hair. A deep groan escaped his throat. He just recognized it came from him because Donna started giggling, satisfied with herself.

"Ok, I see", the Doctor admitted embarrassed, but Donna didn't seem to mind. Instead she seemed to enjoy his cluelessness.

"Anything else you need to know?" Donna mocked and toyed with his glasses in her hands.

"Don't flatter yourself, I'm just adapting myself", the Doctor explained; inwardly trying to figure where this foreign noise came from. It was certainly no noise of joy. No, he must have subconsciously tried to copy Donna's reaction. Yup, this sounded about right and far more likely at any rate.

"As if! You freaking enjoyed it and you don't understand it yet", Donna laughed and put his glasses on herself.

"So this makes me _your_ teacher", she declared and seemed to enjoy herself highly.

"Oh, but I'm a _real_ quick learner", the Doctor replied. Now he was determined to show Donna that he was able to handle all kinds of human tradition. Just because he was an alien to her, didn't mean it had to be odd between them.

"Then get started", Donna threw a demanding look over the rim of his glasses – a challenge he willingly accepted.


End file.
